U.S. patent number 10,782,028 [Application Number 15/813,196] was granted by the patent office on 2020-09-22 for glass on outside of range door.
This patent grant is currently assigned to BSH Hausgerate GmbH, BSH Home Appliances Corporation. The grantee listed for this patent is BSH Hausgerate GmbH, BSH Home Appliances Corporation. Invention is credited to Robert Ladner, Rose Marie Parker.
![](/patent/grant/10782028/US10782028-20200922-D00000.png)
![](/patent/grant/10782028/US10782028-20200922-D00001.png)
![](/patent/grant/10782028/US10782028-20200922-D00002.png)
United States Patent |
10,782,028 |
Ladner , et al. |
September 22, 2020 |
Glass on outside of range door
Abstract
Techniques are provided for constructing an appliance door
having a metal-to-metal-to-glass bond. In one or more
implementations a glass panel is mounted to a door skin of a door
panel, the door skin having multiple slots. Adhesive is applied to
the side of the door skin opposite the glass panel along a path
created by the multiple slots. Afterwards, a metal frame is placed
on the adhesive creating a metal-to-metal-to-glass bond with
increased structural strength and a reduced gap between the glass
and metal of the door panel.
Inventors: |
Ladner; Robert (Knoxville,
TN), Parker; Rose Marie (Caryville, TN) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
BSH Home Appliances Corporation
BSH Hausgerate GmbH |
Irvine
Munich |
CA
N/A |
US
DE |
|
|
Assignee: |
BSH Home Appliances Corporation
(Irvine, CA)
BSH Hausgerate GmbH (Munich, DE)
|
Family
ID: |
1000005068914 |
Appl.
No.: |
15/813,196 |
Filed: |
November 15, 2017 |
Prior Publication Data
|
|
|
|
Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
|
US 20190145628 A1 |
May 16, 2019 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F24C
15/021 (20130101); F24C 15/04 (20130101); F16B
11/006 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
F24C
15/04 (20060101); F16B 11/00 (20060101); F24C
15/02 (20060101); C09K 5/18 (20060101); F24V
30/00 (20180101); A23L 5/10 (20160101); B65D
81/34 (20060101); A47J 36/28 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;126/200 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1225867 |
|
Feb 1994 |
|
DE |
|
2410325 |
|
Jul 2005 |
|
GB |
|
2006103086 |
|
Oct 2006 |
|
WO |
|
Primary Examiner: Bosques; Edelmira
Assistant Examiner: Mashruwala; Nikhil P
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Tschupp; Michael E. Pallapies;
Andre Braun; Brandon G.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An oven door panel for an appliance oven door, the oven door
panel comprising: an oven door skin, the oven door skin having a
plurality of cut-out slots; a window in the oven door skin; a glass
panel mounted to a first side of the oven door skin; and a metal
frame on a second side of the oven door skin opposite of the glass
panel, wherein the glass panel and the metal frame are directly
bonded to the other through at least one of the plurality of
cut-out slots.
2. The oven door panel of claim 1, wherein the glass panel is
mounted to the first side of the oven door skin via an
adhesive.
3. The oven door panel of claim 2, wherein the adhesive is a
silicon-based adhesive.
4. The oven door panel of claim 1, wherein the frame is mounted to
the second side of the oven door skin via an adhesive.
5. The oven door panel of claim 1, wherein the glass panel is
mounted flush to the first side of the oven door skin.
6. The oven door panel of claim 1, wherein there is no gap between
the glass panel and the first side of the oven door skin.
Description
FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY
The present technology relates to improvements in appliance door
construction.
BACKGROUND
Glass on an appliance door, for example glass on an oven door or a
range door, is traditionally mounted on the interior of the door.
Methods for mounting glass on the interior of the door
traditionally use a variety of gluing and taping methods.
However, when mounting glass on the exterior of an appliance door,
these traditional methods are insufficient. Tape, regardless of
thickness, can result in a gap between the door skin and the glass.
This gap creates potential complications via increased heat loss,
cleaning issues, and potential pinch points for a user's hand where
it can get caught between the door skin and the glass.
In contrast, using glue to mount glass on the exterior of the
appliance door results in less of a gap between the door skin and
the glass, however, controlling the bead position of the glue
during assembly is a challenge, and seepage of the glue outside of
the glass is a possibility.
Both of these traditional methods (glue and tape) also create a
metal-to-glass adhesion. While this is acceptable for glass mounted
on the interior of an appliance door, glass mounted to the exterior
of an appliance door will be subject to stronger forces and cannot
rely on an adhesive alone for bonding strength.
Accordingly, what is needed is a way to quickly and easily mount
glass to the exterior of an appliance door that results in no
discernible gap between the glass and the appliance door while
increasing the strength of the finished door.
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention is directed to improvements in appliance door
construction, in particular regarding appliance doors with glass
mounted to the exterior of the door. This is accomplished by
cutting slots in the door skin of an appliance door, placing the
glass on the exterior side of the door skin, applying an adhesive
to the backside of the door skin along the path of the slots, and
applying a metal frame to the backside of the door skin on top of
the adhesive.
This construction technique results in a minimal or non-discernible
gap between the glass and the door skin, allowing for a flush look
for the appliance door.
This construction technique also results in a
metal-to-metal-to-glass adhesion, providing greater structural
strength to appliance doors having large viewing windows and
minimal surface area for affixing glass to the door skin.
Various other objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the
present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the
art upon review of the following detailed description of preferred
embodiments of the invention and accompanying drawings in which
like numerals represent like components.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective, front view of an appliance door panel
constructed in accordance with this disclosure.
FIG. 2 is a perspective, rear view of an appliance door panel
constructed in accordance with this disclosure.
FIG. 3 is a flow diagram depicting a procedure in an example
implementation in which an appliance door panel is constructed.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The present invention now is described more fully hereinafter with
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the
invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in
many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the
embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are
provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and
will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in
the art.
Throughout this disclosure, the terms top, bottom, front, back,
left and right may be used. These terms are only intended to
provide relational orientation with respect to one another. For
example, any two opposed sides can be a right side and a left side
and by changing to an opposed viewpoint, right versus left will be
changed. Thus, top, bottom, front, back, left and right should not
be considered limiting and are used only to distinguish their
relationship to one another.
FIG. 1 illustrates a front perspective, blown-apart view of an
appliance door panel 10. Appliance door panel 10 may be a component
of any manner of appliance door, for example, an oven or range
door.
The appliance door panel 10 has a door skin 20. The door skin is
constructed out of metal; however, any other suitable material can
be used.
The door skin has a cutout or viewing window 202 that may allow for
viewing contents of the appliance when the appliance door is
closed. The viewing window may be configured in a variety of sizes,
dimensions, and/or shapes to maximize viewing and/or to minimize
weight of the door skin.
The door skin has a plurality of cut outs or slots 201 which
perforate the door skin.
Attached to the outer, front side of the door skin is a glass panel
30, the glass panel being the same, similar, or approximate size as
the viewing window. The glass panel can be constructed out of
glass, transparent ceramic, or any other suitable material.
During assembly of the appliance door panel a continuous bead of
adhesive 40 is applied following the path of the slots on the back
side of the door skin.
Attached to the inner, back side of the door skin is a metal frame
50. The metal frame is positioned so as to cover the
adhesive-filled slots in the door skin. In an exemplary embodiment
the metal frame functions as an infrared ("IR") shield. The metal
frame is constructed out of metal; however, any other suitable
material can be used.
The adhesive in the slots of the door skin results in the glass
panel being adhered to both the door skin and the metal frame.
Additionally, the adhesive in the slots of the door skin as well as
the adhesive between the slots on the back side of the door skin
result in the metal frame being adhered to the door skin. As a
result, a metal-to-metal-to-glass adhesive bond is created bonding
the metal frame to the door skin to the glass panel.
This metal-to-metal-to-glass construction results in a stronger
bond with increased structural integrity than metal-to-glass
construction. Furthermore, the metal-to-metal-to-glass construction
is consistent and not partial due to the metal frame overlapping
the adhesive-filled slots which serve as bonding points for the
glass panel. The metal-to-metal-to-glass construction also results
in the glass panel being mounted flush to the front side of the
door skin, reducing or eliminating any gap between the glass panel
and the door skin.
FIG. 2 illustrates a rear perspective, blown-apart view of the
appliance door panel 10. As illustrated in FIG. 2 the door skin 20
is sandwiched between the metal frame 50 and the glass panel 30,
with the metal frame overlapping the slots 201 in the door
skin.
Example Procedures.
The following discussion describes techniques for constructing an
appliance door panel with a metal-to-metal-to-glass bond. The
procedures are shown as a set of blocks that specify operations to
be performed by one or more persons or one or more devices and are
not necessarily limited to the orders shown for performing the
operations by the respective blocks. In portions of the following
discussion, reference will be made to FIGS. 1 and 2 and respective
reference numbers.
FIG. 3 depicts a procedure 300 in an example implementation in
which an appliance door panel with a metal-to-metal-to-glass bond
is constructed.
At 302 a glass panel (30) of similar or identical size to a door
skin viewing window (202) is placed in a fixture which restrains it
along the X and Y axes.
At 304 a door skin (10) having a plurality of perforated or cut
slots (201) is placed on top of the glass panel in the same
fixture, the fixture constraining both the glass panel and the door
skin.
At 306 a continuous bead of adhesive is applied to the back of the
door skin along the path of the slots in the door skin. This
adhesive may be a silicone-based adhesive or glue, however any
other suitable material can be used. The adhesive may be applied
manually or by an automatic process.
After the adhesive is applied, at 308 a metal frame 50 is placed on
the back of the door skin on top of the glue and overlapping the
slots in the door skin. A fixture may be used to align the metal
frame, or another process may be used that ensures consistent
placement of the metal frame.
After the metal frame is in position at 310 a press is used to
apply force to the metal frame. This force is applied for an amount
of time dependent on the properties of the adhesive used.
As a result of this process the metal frame, door skin, and glass
panel are adhered in a metal-to-metal-to-glass bond via the
plurality of slots in the door skin.
While the present technology has been described in connection with
several practical examples, it is to be understood that the
technology is not to be limited to the disclosed examples, but on
the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and
equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the
technology.
* * * * *